Clare Smith studied at Birmingham Institute of Art and Design, BCU, gaining BA (Hons) and Masters degrees in Visual Communication, specializing in photography. Her fine art photographic practice is focused on the relationship between photography’s dependence on the physical, tangible world to make images which explore the intangible. Clare’s practice continues to question the medium, practically, theoretically and philosophically, and she brings this questioning to the learning environment.

She has exhibited through solo shows at galleries such as New Walsall Art Gallery, Watershed, and Midlands Arts Centre with “Near Infinity” being rated as one of the top 5 “must see” exhibitions by The Guardian. These bodies of work have moved from public exhibition to work commercially, being exhibited through Art Lounge and Art for Offices, resulting in commissions from large corporate clients such as Maersk.

The experiences of navigating an increasingly complex image world to make individual, expressive images work successfully in professional markets through diverse placement are brought into teaching on the degree programme. The development of informed individual practice is central to the BA (Hons) course, as is the understanding of potential markets and audiences. The balance between individual photographic understanding and development, and purposeful context and placement, is at the centre of Clare’s teaching.